China began the countdown yesterday for its second manned foray into space, as specially invited guests poured off trains in the city of Jiuquan near the launch site to witness the event.
Communist party officials and other VIPs filled the overnight train from Lanzhou, the nearest major industrial city, gladly accepting a bumpy nine-hour ride for an opportunity to watch history unfold.
"We didn't get a chance to watch the first manned launch two years ago, so this time we really wanted to go," said one of the passengers, a middle-aged woman.
"My husband works with a telecom company that's doing business with the launch center, so I secured an invite for me and my daughter."
Officials involved in the launch said that Shenzhou VI would blast off this morning, and the official Xinhua news agency confirmed last night that lift off would be this morning at 9 am.
Regarding earlier secrecy surrounding the launch time, a Jiuquan police officer, patrolling the street here in his black uniform said, "it's all because we don't know when the weather will be suitable for a launch."
Previous reports have suggested that cool temperatures could delay the launch, and weather forecasters have warned of unseasonably cold weather in northern China this week.
Xinhua said the two astronauts for the five-day mission had been selected and would undergo final physical examinations yesterday.
Previous reports said that Zhai Zhigang (
"Preparations for the launch are going well," an unnamed official on the space program told Xinhua.
Like its first manned space launch in October two years ago, which made China only the third nation after the US and the former Soviet Union to send a man into orbit, this one will take place from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.
A community of 15,000 served by everything from an Olympic-size swimming pool to a fast-food joint, it is located on the edge of the Gobi desert, several hours' drive away from Jiuquan city.
It is only rarely open to visitors, and this week has been sealed off completely, with roadblocks in place and the military patrolling the area.
Space enthusiasts from all over China started arriving in groups as early as a week ago, all of them eager to get as close to Shenzhou VI as possible.
They might have had a better shot at getting a good look if they had stayed at home in front of their television sets.
China's state television has announced it plans a live transmission of the launch, reflecting confidence that it will go according to plan.
Foreign observers said China had good reason not to worry, as it was not taking any major risks with Shenzhou VI as compared with Shenzhou V.
"It's the same kind of spacecraft doing the same kind of thing, except that they must prove that their system can work for five days rather than just one day," said David Baker, a London-based space policy analyst with Jane's Defence Weekly.
"The last Shenzhou unmanned missions stayed up for up to five days, so they're not trying anything that their unmanned versions of Shenzhou have not done already."
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